Les dépôts peuvent être résumé comme une collection de sources ainsi qu'une représentation physique des sources, de même que leur origine et l'emplacement actuel d'une version de cette source. Each source can reference one or more Repositories: this association is made in the Repositories tab in the Source editor.

Repositories example

To better illustrate some of the possible use scenarios consider the following data that we want to record in Gramps:

Name: Raphael Hythloday
Birth date: 20 February 1480
Place of Birth: Santa Maria de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal
Source: Baptism record present in page 66 of the year 1480 book of the Baptism Records of the Parish
of Belém in Lisbon, Portugal

Single Repository

With the above information the following structure can be deduced, from the higher level Repository information to the actual Source reference in the birth event:

It becomes apparent that the Repository is ultimately the "physical" location of the sources - truly physical in this example since it represents a specific building of a specific institution, but could also be a Web repository.

Multiple Repositories for the same Source

The example above has as source a Baptism Record book of a Parish. While this is the source of the birth event - and possibly others - it is possible that multiple representations of this single source exist. Let's consider a not unusual scenario:

The book itself in the Parish Archives, as already mentioned.

A microfilm of Baptism Records of the same Parish covering 1480-1500 is present in the Lisbon District Archive, with the number MF-123456

A scanned image and transcription of the same baptism record is available online in the National Archive webpage.

The source itself remains the same: the Baptism Books of the Belém Parish, so it is hardly practical or necessary to add different Sources to represent the different mediums in which the information lies. It is however useful to record that the information is available in different ways and forms - it might, for example, be necessary to get a copy of the Baptism record at a latter time.

Repositories - and the associated reference in the Sources - fulfil this task: they represent different origins and representations of the same source. Using the above information 3 different Repositories exist:

The already added Parish of Belém Archives

The Lisbon District Archive

The National Archive Digital Repository

The same source - the already referenced "Parish of Belém Baptism Records" - should be added to all three. When a source is added to a Repository a Repository Reference is created. This reference shows the shared Repository information - that is the same for all the Sources in the same Repository - and also a Reference Information section that is specific to the Source and that includes "Media Type" and "Call Number". This is where the information that is required to locate the source in the repository should be entered. Following our example:

The Baptism books "proper" would have as Repository the Parish of Belém Archives. The "Media Type" in the Repository information would be set to "Book" and the call number empty.

The microfilm would have as Repository the Lisbon District Archive. The "Media Type" would be "Microfilm" and the call number "MF-123456".

The scanned image available online would have as Repository the national Archive. The "Media Type" would be "Web page" (or perhaps "Digital image") and the call number the URL where the image is available.